Emiliano García-Page He entered early yesterday afternoon to face to face with the acting Minister for the Ecological Transition, Teresa Ribera, with a clear objective: to leave the headquarters of the department with a principle of commitment to increase the allocation of European funds for Castilla-La Mancha. And, to do this, the regional president took pride in the contribution of his autonomy to the renewable objectives to which the Government has committed in Brussels – it was the community in which the most clean power was installed in 2022.
Among the arguments to which the Castilian-Manchego president alluded, the potential of the region for the production of green hydrogenthe new The Golden energy to which the roadmap of the department headed by Ribera grants a fundamental role to achieve the decarbonization of the Spanish economy. The clearest example is Puertollano (Ciudad Real), which is part of the H2MEDthe hydrogen megagas pipeline promoted by the Government, and is one of the eleven hydrogen valleys that have been detected in Spain, which has already attracted projects from giants such as Iberdrola or Repsol, which add up to investments of more than 200 million euros.
With these wicks, the socialist baron tries to repeat the strategy that just three months ago allowed him to capture an extra EU fund of 100 million euros for Castilla-La Mancha. The head of the regional Executive announced the news last July, when he reported that the region would receive a shipment “not planned” from the reallocation of European funds “which have stopped being spent in other regions”. Page then attributed that additional amount to the fact that “efficiency ends up being an industry in this region.” This Thursday, months after these statements, the regional president insisted again, this time, playing the renewable transition card, a speech completely aligned with the priorities of his interlocutor.
If it comes to fruition, Garcia-Page’s request would increase the party of 1,212 million euros of the Recovery Plan that, on September 15, the Government had assigned to the Castilian-La Mancha territory. The figure represents less than a 5% of the total of 24,313 million that have been distributed among the CCAA.
The regional president’s request is based on a budget process, through which a reprogramming is carried out and new criteria for the distribution of European funds are determined. “As the milestones to be met are set at the national level, it does not matter which Autonomous Community reaches them, the important thing is to achieve them. In some areas the Government provided an extra amount for the Autonomous Communities that met them faster, a kind of bonus for good execution” , point out financial sources. “In those cases, it would not even be necessary to reschedule, because it would be a matter of funds whose destination would be pending to be defined“, matizan.